The present invention relates to a detachable connector. More particularly, it finds use in the field of miniature connectors to be connected, for instance, to a printed board, in an environment which provides very little clearance, particularly in an environment cluttered with wires and cables, e.g behind a car dashboard. In fact, behind a car dashboard, particularly in a car having a system for managing monitoring and/or controlling functions of the vehicle, clutter is at its maximum. The interest of the invention consists in that it provides a connector mounted by means of an elastic lock onto a complementary connector, and such that the connector of the invention provides easy release of the hooked tab.
In prior art, a connector is known which comprises a cover and contacts, such as, for instance, the one described in patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,415, the cover having wires at a first end thereof, so that the contacts provided at a second front end of the cover are connected to said wires. The conductors of these wires are then joined to the contacts inside the cover. The cover preferably has a large flat surface and is thin. The contacts are provided on a surface of the cover which connects together two parallel large flat surfaces of the cover. This connector generally has a trapezoidal shape. It is known as a SUB D-type connector. As contacts, a SUB D connector has male pins or female sockets, over a trapezoidal surface. Typically, this trapezoidal surface is encircled by an equally trapezoidal peripheral metal frame. Said peripheral metal frame is higher than the pins or sockets of the contact, so that it can protect them. This connector is designed to be connected to a complementary connector. The complementary connector may be, for instance, separate, or located on a printed board. In order to keep the connector connected with the complementary connector, a connector may be used whose cover is such that it includes a main body and one or more hooked tabs. The hooked tab is flexibly fitted on the cover body. Also, the hooked tab has a hook. Therefore, the hooked tab is allowed little movement to displace the hook so that, in a first position, the hook is drawn apart, thereby allowing an unrestrained connection of the connector with its complementary connector, and in a second rest position, the hook is engaged on a projection of the complementary connector.
In prior art, such connector is connected on a complementary connector by typically forcing a projection of the complementary connector against the hook of the hooked tab. In fact, the hook is chamfered to allow the elastic hooked tab to be drawn apart under the stress of the projection of the complementary connector, upon connection thereof. In prior art, such connector is disconnected, i.e. the elastic lock is disengaged from the hooked tab, secured on a second projection of the complementary connector, by drawing the hooked tab away from the cover. In order to draw said elastic hooked tab apart, a thin and elongated object is used, such as a screwdriver or a blade, which is slipped into the slit between the hooked tab and the cover body to draw the hooked tab away from the body. Once the hooked tab has been drawn apart, the connector is pulled out to disengage the contacts, thereby disconnecting the two connectors.
Prior art connectors involve a problem. While they can be easily connected onto a complementary connector, they are not so easily disconnected from said complementary connector, when the connection takes place in a cluttered environment. A long object, such as a screwdriver or a blade is difficult to handle in such an environment cluttered with wires and cables. Handling such an element might as well be dangerous, involving the risk of unintentionally cutting, displacing or disconnecting any of these cables and wires. A safe disconnection of two connectors in such an environment requires delicate, long and difficult operations.
The invention has the object to obviate the above problems by providing a connector with a detachment system: a release. Thus, a connector according to the invention includes a release which may be moved in a slit formed between a hooked tab and a main body of a connector cover. The release particularly includes a transverse blade disposed across the slit. The release is movable, hence the transverse blade is movable within the slit. Depending on the position of the blade inside the slit, the blade gets more or less in contact with the hooked tab and with the cover body. This release is mounted before connecting the connector to a complementary connector. Furthermore, the release may be placed in a backward position so that it cannot interfere with the connection of a complementary connector on this connector.
In the backward position, the transverse blade of the release exerts no constraint on the hooked tab. Conversely, when the release is moved to a forward position, it exerts a force on said hooked tab to drive it apart thereby disengaging the elastic lock. Therefore, no tool is required to drive the hooked tab apart what is only needed is to displace the release so that the transverse blade of the release draws the hooked tab apart. The release has a plate which can slide along a flat surface of the cover. The plate is also very thin and does not appreciably increase the comprehensive thickness of the cover. A movement exerted on this plate allows to displace the transverse blade inside the slit.
Thus, the invention relates to a connector comprising a cover and at least one contact fitted therein, the cover having a body and at least one hooked tab, a slit being formed between the hooked tab and the body and the hooked tab having a hook for engagement in a complementary connector, characterized in that it includes a release, movable within the slit, the release having at least one lateral transverse blade in the slit, to draw the hooked tab away from the body.